THE HOUSE THAT BRIAN BUILT

Buttoned up in his suit, at first Brian Houston looked a little uncomfortable, standing there on the White House lawn. But once he started speaking, it was as though God himself had put him there. And Houston might well have believed it, too. In December 2019, the senior pastor and co-founder of Hillsong Church posted a video to Instagram after going into spiritual service for the most powerful man on earth. “Well, here I am at the White House, never say never,” he said in his rasping, charismatic voice. “It was a great honour to have had the chance to go into the Cabinet Room and even into the Oval Office and to pray for the President of the United States of America.” This wasn’t about politics, he assured us, but the position. “And a significant man like the president of the United States can do with all the prayer that we can possibly give him.”

Arriving in Washington DC seemed like quite the feat for a pastor’s son from Auckland, but Houston’s journey to the White House had not been without its detours. Three months earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House had turned down a request from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that Houston, whom he has called his “mentor”, accompany him to a state dinner with himself and President Trump. “I don’t comment on gossip, honestly,” said Morrison at the time, refusing to confirm nor deny the reports, “it’s all gossip”. Morrison’s dismissals aside, the event highlighted the central paradox of Houston and his Hillsong Church. How can he at once be too on-the-nose to attend a state dinner, yet so important that he could be part of a select group chosen to pray for the evangelical-courting president only months later?

In seeking to understand Houston, there is a lot that can be taken on face value. The handsome 65-year-old is far more comfortable in his traditional uniform of leather jackets, fitted jeans and sneakers. For him, dressing like a traditional clergyman is as old